Witch-Cursed World
“No sir! Put me in the brig, take away my rations, flog me even! But I will not go out there while we still orbit that cursed world!” –Philippe George, Gunner’s Mate of the raider Dagger’s Tip Out among the warp passage of the Maw, there exists a single planet bereft of sun, moon, and celestial brothers. Ejected out from its home solar system, and thought to be destined to forever wander the cosmos, this world was eventually caught within the grip of the Maw. Tossed and cast by the storms of the Halo Margins, this large, rocky, frozen world eventually settled into an area of calm within the Maw. Here it was encountered by the early explorers of the Koronus Expanse. These explorers and Rogue Traders found a planet whose atmosphere had long frozen and fallen as snow and ice, solid and locked in the eternal cold of the void. There was nothing valuable on the world, no minerals worth mining or resources to harvest. However, the storms would not touch the world, and that made it valuable in its own right. As time went on, however, rumors and stories began to circulate about the world. Voidfarers claimed that those who tarried too long in its orbit suffered ill-luck and calamity. Navigators and Astropaths began to report a strange phenomena when in orbit, a psychic interference like the buzzing of insects far away. They also claimed that whatever this world is, it can disrupt their individual abilities---especially an Astropath’s ability to communicate through the warp. Eventually, this so-called Station of Passage was named the Witch-Cursed World. Today, it is shunned by all but the most desperate of voidfarers. No captain will order his ship to remain in orbit any longer than he absolutely must, and no crewman dares to go near it. 'The Cursed Ship' Voidfarers are a superstitious lot. Tales are often told about derelicts and ghost ships making their way through the empyrean, but one tale related to the Witch-Cursed World tends to stand out amongst the crewmen of the ships that ply the warp routes of the Koronus Expanse. Roughly two hundred years ago, a ship belonging to a newly Warranted Rogue Trader took orbit around the Witch-Cursed World while the Great Warp Storms raged stronger than they had for several decades. It was said that after the captain failed to arrive at Port Wander within the designated time to meet with an agent he had arranged for a cargo transfer, that an expedition was sent out to ascertain the location of the missing cruiser. The salvage crews eventually found her drifting intact around the Witch-Cursed World, but with all power dead. Upon exploring the derelict, they found no sign of the crew---or of any life at all. There were no signs of struggle or mutiny. All the savior pods were in place. When the team made their way to the bridge, they found what remained of the ship’s captain. His corpse looked like it had been dead for hundreds of years, mummified upon his command throne. The logs of the ship were completely corrupted. One fragment was dated 33.120.M33, another was dated 01.999.M42. The only intact log-entry recovered was from a stern airlock, recording an unauthorized access three days after the ship entered orbit. The salvage crew fled the ship as fast as they could and set the vessel adrift to be swallowed up by the Storms of the Halo Margins. Other stories such as this have surfaced from time to time around the Witch-Cursed World. Some whisper that it is as if the planet itself exacts some sort of dues from those who take shelter within its dark shadow. 'Installation 2819-Rho' There is one mark of Imperial manufacture on the surface of the Witch-Cursed World. Long ago, when Rogue Traders first mapped the Maw, some unknown individual built an astropathic relay tower on the surface of the newly discovered Station of Passage. Perhaps this unknown individual intended to earn a tidy profit, relaying and boosting astropathic signals through the unreliable maelstrom of the Maw. No records state exactly what happened to this beacon. However, the archives of the Scholastica Psykana offices in Hive Sibellus on Scintilla refer to an astropathic relay, “Installation 2819-Rho,” located within the Maw. The records simply refer to when the station went operational---002.M41---and record that five astropaths and attendant minders were dispatched to the site. For the next five years, the same number of astropaths were dispatched to 2819-Rho, until a final notification notes that the Psykana authorities were immediately ending all dispatches “for undisclosed reasons.” The notification also records that the Scholastica Psykana in the Calixis Sector petitioned the Inquisition for a Rogue Trader’s arrest and execution---the name of the Rogue Trader was redacted. Installation 2819-Rho remained, however, a lonely tower on the surface of a deserted world, its plasma generators long dead and facility deserted. However, every 17 minutes the installation still broadcasts its astropathic beacon-signal, detectable up to several light-years away. Nobody knows how this is possible. In theory, an astropath would need to broadcast the beacon, but the few who have visited the Witch-Cursed World and bothered to augur the tower report that it is cold, dead, and without power. For the past three centuries, the Calixian Scholastica Psykana has indicated they would pay handsomely were someone to investigate the tower and report their findings. Thus far, nobody has accepted their commission. 'Using the Witch-Cursed World' The Witch-Cursed World is less of a resource to be used than it is an obstacle that must be overcome. Few captains willingly venture here, but if a ship is forced to use this “safe harbour” the Explorers must calm their nervous crew. At minimum, the captain or someone in authority (a Missionary would be a good choice) should make a Challenging (+0) Charm or Intimidate Test. Success means he keeps the crew calm and at their duties, but if he fails the ship should lose one point of Morale per degree of failure. Of course, should the ship linger in orbit, the GM should feel free to be creative with the consequences. Half-glimpsed symbols in the landscape of the planet below, scratching sounds outside the airlocks, ghostly returns on the augur arrays, all could set the proper mood. Of course, a particularly bold and foolhardy Rogue Trader might decide to take the commission of the Scholastica Psykana to investigate Installation 2819-Rho, and discover what horrors may lie within.